日本的本田和豐田相繼退出一級方程式（Formula 1）賽車，雖說是因為經濟不景氣的原因，但是經濟緊縮之後，反而讓原本口袋滿滿的車廠認真思考一級方程式（Formula 1）賽車與車廠經營的關係。此外Bridgestone 也決定在明年合約結束後退出一級方程式（Formula 1）賽事。
我始終無法理解F1這種運動，所謂的 Motosports,人操作機器的比賽。這種比賽與拿球拍、劍、棍棒、手套，操作獨木舟、滑翔翼、帆船、單車、雪橇、滑板都同屬sports, 但是機器的力量似乎決定了絕大多數勝負的關鍵。或許賽車(mostosports)是賽馬或馬術(equestrian)的進階版；既然馬術可以是一種運動，馬進化成車以後的賽車，應該也可以算是一種運動。不過馬術是人和馬同時參與競技，賽車卻是人與機器。機器是人製的，遵循formula one的規範；馬是經自然演化而成的，雖經人為干預，基本上是是演化的結果。
F1 Motosports與其說是運動，不如說是一種競速演出。要投入大筆金錢，需要很大的場地，製造很大的噪音，消耗很多能源，排放很多碳，...實在不是一項好運動。把投入這項運動的錢與資源用來踢足球、打網球、羽球、桌球、排球或籃球、游泳、跑步、登山、跳舞或打太極...可以讓更多人的身體更健康，身材和心肺功能都變好。
本田和豐田相繼退出一級方程式（Formula 1）賽車是日本經濟和世界經濟的衰退的結果，但應不是日本車廠的式微的前兆；而是日本車廠拋棄奢侈浮誇的虛名，著手從事真正汽車技術的創新，製造品質的提升。我希望本田和豐田將原本在賽車上燒掉的錢，用在開發新的能源與動力技術，贊助更多的科技創新，甚至是藝文活動與運動發展。
對於Toyota與Bridgestone即將退出F1的消息，我由衷地感到喜悅。對絕大多數的駕駛人而言，體驗時速300km 以上的快感是不切實際的，就算車子做得到，技術與場地都不足以搭配。Honda與Toyota應該要回歸汽車的本質了，研究經費應該花在如何更節省能源，減少汙染，而不是如何在F1賽道上快百分之一秒。開一部F1冠軍品牌的汽車，除了多了點不切實際的虛榮之外，有甚麼實質利益呢？Honda調高2009會計年度的營業目標為三百四十萬輛，而Honda F1車隊每年花費兩億英鎊；如果Honda仍在今年的F1賽道上比賽，每一個Honda汽車的車主要分擔近£6.5 (雖說英磅從去年對台幣的1:66到現在的1:54,還是相當於NTD350.)。
雖說歐洲人很喜歡F1賽車，但F1幾乎是環保的相反詞。本田與豐田若是將經費投入節能環保科技，並運用在其量產汽車上，應該能吸引消費者。歐洲人也十分關心環境保護，退出F1也能成為一個大轉機。本田在其網站上強力的宣揚著環保的理念，豐田的油電混合車是至今全球銷售第一的節能車；我想日本車廠從2010年起會全面進入綠色行銷的新紀元。
F1的賽道上見不到任何一支來自德國、日本或美國，世界三大汽車工業國車廠的車隊了；剩下兩個「半強」法國與義大利的車廠。
Kamui Kobayashi was set to land a full-time drive for Toyota after impressingToyota has confirmed that it is pulling out of Formula 1 racing after posting its worst ever financial loss.
The world's largest car manufacturer will concentrate on its core business.
Toyota president Akio Toyoda said the Japanese team had no option but to pull out citing "the current severe economic realities" affecting the world.The team failed to win any of the 139 races it entered after making its F1 debut in 2002 but was fifth in the 2009 constructors' championship.Toyota's withdrawal leaves the sport with no Japanese team after
Honda left F1 at the start of the 2009 season. They become the third manufacturer to quit the sport in the last 11 months after BMW announced it was leaving in July.Honda were replaced by Brawn, who went on to win this year's drivers' championship with Jenson Button and the constructors' championship.Button told BBC Sport: "It's sad. I thought Toyota would continue.
"They've obviously got their reasons, as Honda did, but it's a pity for F1 and for Toyota. Hopefully we can survive without them."
In May the company revealed its worst set of figures for the last financial year - a 436.9bn yen (£2.9bn) loss in the year to 31 March, 2009 and is expecting further losses when it posts its results to September 2009 on Thursday.
"It was a tough decision because we are betraying the expectations of fans," Toyoda, a racing enthusiast and grandson of Toyota's founder, added.
"I apologise to our fans from the bottom of my heart. I made the decision myself."
He also ruled out supplying engines to other teams, saying: "In terms of Formula 1, we will make a complete withdrawal."
Williams announced last month that it would be replacing its Toyota engine with a
Cosworth for next season.
Former team owner and BBC pundit Eddie Jordan told BBC Sport: "I'm really disappointed that Toyota have decided to pull out.
"When fellow Honda withdrew last December the team continued as Brawn Grand Prix and the rest is history.
"I hope Toyota will leave the sport with the same dignity and allow the team to continue in a new guise.
"Toyota signed a new Concorde Agreement in the summer committing them to F1 until 2012 and so it could be possible for the team to continue in another form if the rest of the grid allow it."
Cologne-based Toyota F1's demise could pave the way for Sauber to return, after Swiss-based Qadbak Investments stepped in in September following BMW's withdrawal from the BMW Sauber team.
At the time, the FIA gave Sauber "14th place" for next season, meaning they were first reserve to fill any vacancy.
Toyota's season promised much after long-term driver Jarno Trulli finished third in the opening race of the season in Australia and followed that with another third in Bahrain, after starting race four from pole position.
His team-mate Timo Glock also stood on the podium after finishing third in the rain-affected second race of the season in Malaysia.
But neither driver would reach the podium again until race 14 when Glock finished second behind Britain's Lewis Hamilton in Singapore, equalling the team's best finish to a race.
One week later, in early October, Trulli also came second at the Japanese grand prix at Suzuka.
Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi joined Trulli, who finished the season eighth in the standings, for the final two races of the season after Glock, who came 10th, was injured.
Trulli is tipped to join Lotus while Glock is expected to move to Renault later this week but Kobayashi's future is less clear.
Germany's Ralf Schumacher, France's Olivier Panis and Britain's Allan McNish have also all driven for Toyota over the years.
Japanese tyre firm
Bridgestone announced on Monday that it would not be renewing its contract to supply F1 after its current deal runs out at the end of the 2010 season.In July Toyota pulled out of hosting the Japanese Grand Prix at its home Fuji Speedway circuit from next year.
Fellow Japanese companies Subaru and Suzuki withdrew from the World Rally Championship prior to this season while Kawasaki pulled out of MotoGP.
Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8341602.stmPublished: 2009/11/04 08:13:38 GMT
© BBC MMIX
Bridgestone to end F1 tie in 2010Tyre manufacturer Bridgestone will not be renewing its contract to supply Formula 1, after their current deal expires at the end of the 2010 season.The Japanese firm was appointed official tyre supplier ahead of the 2008 season on a three-year contract.
The decision means F1 will need to find a new supplier to provide tyres for the teams in the 2011 season.
The company insisted the global economic crisis was not the main reason behind its decision."It is not mainly the depressed economic situation," said public relations manager Kaoru Tomizawa.
"We are looking more at where tyre demand needs to be focused."
Bridgestone will continue its interest in Formula 1 next season but wanted to concentrate on new technology and products after that.
"The company has decided to redistribute its resources as part of a changing business strategy," added Tomizawa.
"There has been a change of direction towards further developing areas of the business where demand is greatest and which support the company's aims."
Honda pulled its team out of the sport last December to cut costs while Subaru and Suzuki subsequently quit the world rallying championship and bike maker Kawasaki scrapped its MotoGP team as the market downturn hit hard.Bridgestone has been supplying tyres to Formula 1 since 1997.
A company statement said: "(Our) collaboration with F1 has contributed to increased brand awareness and the recognition of Bridgestone as a leader in the global tyre industry.
"Having achieved these goals, Bridgestone is now poised to take its technological and brand building efforts to the next level."
Bridgestone said that no decision had been made about possible job cuts but that it would try to reassign workers at its Tokyo base.
Tyre plants in Australia and New Zealand were closed by the company last month."We still have a year left in F1 so no final decision has been taken on how it will impact the employees," stated Tomizawa.
"But we would like to respect their contribution before deciding about that."
Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8337284.stmPublished: 2009/11/02 09:22:16 GMT
© BBC MMIX
From Times Online
December 5, 2008
Credit crunch forces Honda into shock pullout from Formula OnePummelled by the credit crisis, collapsing global auto markets and an army of angry shareholders, Honda has pulled out of Formula One in a move that deals a huge symbolic blow to the company’s image and could plunge the sport into crisis.
The dramatic exit from Formula One – a sport that has throbbed in the corporate veins of Honda since the 1960s – was announced in Tokyo today by the company’s president, himself a passionate fan of motor racing.
As well as abandoning one of the company’s biggest brand-building tools, the pullout from F1 could do significant damage to the company’s entire business model, said analysts.
The decision leaves the team’s drivers, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, without seats for next season. It also means some 600 staff at the team's headquarters in Brackley, Northamptonshire, face unemployment in the new year.
Despite the huge
£200 million per year costs of maintaining its F1 team, Honda has always maintained that the money is worth it: being in motor sport at the highest level attracts the best engineers to the company.
Visibly shaken, and with his head slumped low, Takeo Fukui delivered the grim word that 2008 would be Honda’s last season of participation in the sport.
He added that the company would consider selling the team, but with financial difficulties hitting everywhere, that route appears unlikely.
The decision, said Mr Fukui, had arisen because of the
“quickly deteriorating operating environment” brought on by the US sub-prime implosion and the sudden contraction of world economies.implosion n. (真空管的)內爆,向內破裂
“Honda must protect its core business activities and secure the long term as widespread uncertainties in the economics around the globe continue to mount,” he said, “we will enter into consultation with associates of Honda Racing F1 and its engine supplier Honda Racing Development regarding the future of the two companies. This will include offering the team for sale.”
Investors in Honda told The Times today that the company’s decision may have been based on the rising ferocity of complaints from shareholders, who believe that the money lavished on F1 participation could be better deployed.
In contrast with Toyota, which said yesterday that it had not changed its plans to compete in the 2009 F1 season, Honda’s participation in the sport was not financially assisted by large sponsorship deals.
The team’s livery bore the names of no major advertisers, with Honda preferring to tout a link to environmental issues on its own company website.
Shareholders doubtful of the true value of F1 to the company have evidence on their side: despite Honda’s long and impressive history in F1, performance in the most recent season has been dire. The team finished second to bottom in the constructors’ championship and scored no wins for several seasons.
The pullout follows a flood of terrible signals from the global auto industry. The Detroit “big three” remain in a last-ditch battle for financial survival, and even the once bullet-proof Japanese giants have begun to feel the pain of slowing growth in all major markets.
Last month, Japanese domestic auto sales crashed to levels last seen in the early 1970s and exports were also down heavily – business has even turned sour in Russia, Asia and Latin America, suggesting that the US and European downturns will not be offset by any near-term growth in emerging markets.
The blow to F1 fans everywhere was delivered from the company’s headquarters in central Tokyo, where portraits of the company’s founder, Soichiro Honda, attest to Honda’s proud association with the sport.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/formula_1/article5290919.ece
The stories were taken from the websites of BBC & the Times On Line. The copyright belongs to BBC & the Times respectively. BBC & the Times do not endorse nor are involved with the production of this blog.
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